100 postcards for Captain Tom

What do you do if you're an avid letter writer and want to join in the Captain Tom 100 challenge? The answer seemed obvious to Dinah Johnson, founder of The Handwritten Letter Appreciation Society - you write 100 postcards for From Me to You to send to cancer patients.

And so on the Friday before the Bank Holiday, Dinah went up to her Writing Shed in the corner of her Dorset garden and began her marathon challenge, sharing her progress on Instagram @lettersappsoc and asking for donations for stamps. Support came in the form of Far From The Madding Crowd soundtrack, cups of tea, retweets from around the globe and a Vera Lynn CD.

On Saturday Dinah was back on the case, 40 postcards already done but still with 60 to go. #PostboxSaturday cheered her on and she wrote 30 more. On Sunday, surely her hand was feeling a little sore but she carried on, tweeting BBC Radio asking them to play her favourite letter-themed tunes. Dinah wrote across the whole postcard, and decorated each one with old stamps, often using the stamps to inspire the content of her writing. Sunday saw another 30 cards written, leaving a final 30 for Monday.

As Dinah wrote, people were responding to her challenge contacting us to sign up to write or receive letters and to donate money. Buy Monday evening Dinah hit the 100, being inspired she said, by Captain Tom. On Tuesday morning, whilst being interviewed by BBC radio she said that she had written for a total of 10 hours, hadn't got any cramp and celebrated with a pear cider on Monday night. And had raised enough money for all the postcards to be packaged up and posted out to those living with cancer across the country.

We are so grateful to Dinah for this amazing support, and for all the support of the members of The Handwritten Letter Appreciation Society.

If you heard about Dinah's challenge and are still wanting to donate, please do here.